


Anaxartaron Onyalië

by Arcus_Calion



Series: Quentalirilla [1]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Epic Poetry, Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 02:57:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14728652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcus_Calion/pseuds/Arcus_Calion
Summary: I decided to make the chapter of the Silmarillion 'Of Aulë and Yavanna' into an epic poem in the style of the Lokasenna and other poems from the Poetic Edda of Norse epic poetry. I use the same style as they do, and I use "|" to indicate a pause in certain lines, as is common in alliterative verse.





	Anaxartaron Onyalië

With hammer wide | when Aulë wrought

The Thrawny Folk from stone;

This work no word | spoke he to any

Till moved by his spousal love:

 

_Spake Aulë:_

“Giver of Fruit | the Glorious Tree

That grows neath Heaven’s eye

My heart moves me now | with spousal love

To tell of my works to thee.

 

“In darkness strait | and toil long planned

My thought within me grew

To bring forth life | that from me differed

In mind and essence and kind.

 

“For impatient I, | and long the years

That for the Children we wait,

And my spirit moves | within my breast

To teach my craft to many.

 

“Then from the stone | and cavern wall

Brought forth I seven Lords

And doughty-tough | their mind and flesh

I made to face the Dark.

 

“I moved my will, | so moved they theirs

I saw my work availed not.

In sorrow I spoke | to teach them words

And they to me re-spoke.

 

“Then came The ONE | into my thought

With accusation kindly:

‘Why didst thou do | this: deed forbidden

Beyond thy power set?

 

“’From me thou hast | thy Being sole

To divide and share, not once.

These seven made | from cavern deep

Move only with thy thought.

 

“’Oh mock’ry dark | of my Children foretold,

These children of Pride show forth!’

To The ONE returned | I bowed with shame:

‘Not pride, Creator, moved me:

 

“’Twas restless desire | for pupils eager

With whom to learn and teach

Of Arda wide | whose space I deem

Exceeds its occupants’ need.

 

“’To folly deep | have I been drawn

By impatient soul led on.

Yet may children loving | their father mimic

Of mockery devoid:

 

“’From thee I get | my being whole,

And thus my need to Make.

In reverence then | and fierce desire

Didst I these seven form.

 

“’I offer to thee | these Thrawny folk

The works of my hands created.

Yet shall I rather | with hammer cruel

Presumption’s fruits destroy?’

 

“Raised I then aloft | long-handled hammer

Weeping to smite the seven,

But they cowered low | with fear shriven

And The ONE with laughter said:

 

“’Behold! Your offer | as soon it left your lips

Was blest and given fruit,

For didst thou see | their movements fearful?

No puppets now are these.’

 

“With love I wept | hammer cast aside

And spoke aloud the praise:

‘May Eru hallow | my errant work

Amending where is fit.’

 

“But more spoke Eru | Allfather just

‘I will not suffer it

That these should wake | before mine own

Who after this shall come.’

 

“So took I then | the seven fathers

And laid them far afield

To rest neath stone | till time shall come

When all the Children wake.

 

“So am I blest | and Good has come

Of evil thoughts begun

Such was the Rede | spoken to us

In the Ages before Eä.”

 

That great one paused | her eyes full bent

Upon her errant spouse

Absorbing then | with wonder filled

This tale of great purport.

 

_Spake Yavanna:_

“Behold! The ONE | with mercy abounds

But since thou secreted

These works of thine, | tween thine and mine

Will ever enmity lie.

 

“As their father loves | so too shall they:

The forge and the stone and the earth.

No heed they’ll pay | to tree or leaf;

Such things shall feel their axe.”

 

_Spake Aulë:_

“This too is true | of the Children to come

Building and eating they’ll need.

Though thy manifold works | in themselves have worth

Yet Dominion is given to them.

 

“The Children will need | make use of such things

Though not without praise or thanks.

No different from mine | are the Children to come

In this matter and others I deem.”

 

_Spake Yavanna:_

“Unless the Enemy Grim | their hearts invades

And darkens forthwith their intent.”

 

Then moved with fear | and brooding dark

Yavanna called out in thought

To the Elder King | the Breather Fair

Upon Mount Everwhite.

 

_Spake Yavanna:_

“Oh King Majestic | righteous ruler

Tell me is it true:

As Aulë says: | will Dominion fall

Of all things to the Children?”

 

_Spake Manwë:_

“Oh Kemi wise | indeed tis true,

But why ask thou this of me?

You know yourself | the truth of this

And need not Aulë’s teaching.”

 

_Spake Yavanna:_

“Oh King Majestic, | thoughts of the future

My heart fill, and I fear thus:

Will naught I make | be spared from harm

When the Children come hereafter?”

 

_Spake Manwë:_

“If thy will were law | and any of these

Thy works thou couldst preserve

Which of thy labors, | of all thy realm

Hold thou closest to heart?”

 

_Spake Yavanna:_

“All have their worth | and each to each

Contributes their worth to others.

But the kelvar flee | while the olvar stay:

Fixed in place immobile.

 

“Among such works | are trees to me

Most dearly held in heart.

Long in the growing | swift in the felling

They little are mourned in passing.

 

“Unless they pay toll | of goodly fruit

Often from year to year,

Cast to the flames | and forgotten forthwith:

So do I see in my thought.

 

“Would that the trees | might speak on behalf

Of all things rooted in earth

To give voice with bough | and branch and leaf

And punish those that wrong them!”

 

_Spake Manwë:_

“Indeed this thought | is strange to me

And hard to countenance.”

 

_Spake Yavanna:_

“Yet was it not | contained within

The Ainulindalë?

For while thou wert | with Ulmo bent

On works then newly thought:

 

“Of clouds then builded | and rain produced

So I too joined therein

And raised tree branches | to receive the rains

And some to Eru sang.”

 

Then Manwë paused | and Yavanna’s thought

Grew within his breast

Viewed by The ONE | the Song arose

Once more about his Halls.

 

Therein he saw | what before he missed

And new things then he heeded

The Vision renewed | within it now

He saw the Hidden things.

 

The Hand of The ONE | was not remote

But entered in all things

And forth therefrom | in every age

There sprang things unforetold.

 

Then Manwë awoke | and going down

To Yavanna upon the mound

Of Corolairë | Ever Green

He sat the Trees beneath.

 

_Spake Manwë:_

“Behold Earth Mother! | The ONE hath spake

To me in silence still:

‘Do ye suppose | I missed any part

Of the Music I had ye make?

 

“’Or the tiniest voice | amid the throng

Did ye think was lost to me?

When the Children awake | then too shall the thought

Of Kemi the Mother of Earth.

 

“’It shall go far afield | and spirits summon

Who among her works shall go

And their just anger | slow raised in wisdom

By all shall be rightly feared.’

 

“And didst thou then | forget Earth Mother

Thy thought sang not alone?

Did not thy thought | and mine meet also

And we took wing together.

 

“We soared like birds | like eagles of the wind

O’er the skies and lands beneath.

So too shall come | by the hand of The ONE

This thought in truth as well:

 

“Ere the Children awake | neath starry skies

And hear the waters murmur

Shall go out in the sky | with wings like the wind

The Eagles of the Lords of the West.”

 

_Spake Yavanna:_

“I rejoice and raise up | my hands to the heavens:

High shall climb my trees:

That the Eagles of Manwë | may house therein

And we may be drawn together!”

 

_Spake Manwë:_

“Nay Earth Mother | As my voice comes down

From a height in the lofty clouds

So shall they dwell | in the trees of Aulë

The mountains and stony crags.

 

“There shall they house | and hear there the words

Raised to us on high

But in woods beneath | there too will walk

The Shepherds of the Trees.”

 

Parted they then | her purpose achieved

And to her spouse she returned

Where at his forge | he poured the metal

Molten into a mold.

 

_Spake Yavanna:_

“Eru is good | and bounty will give

To those who seek it out.

Now let thy children | the woods beware

Whose wrath they arouse at their peril!”

 

_Spake Aulë:_

“That may be | and glad am I

That you heart is happy again.

But nonetheless | they too I deem

Shall indeed have need of wood.”

 

So ended they then | and he returned

To his smithwork and his forge.


End file.
